AIP to roll out community-based road safety programme

A study commissioned by APM Terminals and conducted by AIP Foundation in October 2016 found that even though most students in the region commute to school by motorcycle, only 35 per cent of the students at Tran Quoc Toan Primary School and 19 per cent of the students at Toc Tien Primary School wore helmets, despite road dangers, such as motorised mixed-use roads and the lack of separate motorcycle lanes.

Therefore, APM Terminals together with AIP Foundation, a road safety non-profit organisation, National Traffic Safety Committee (NTSC), and Vung Tau Traffic Safety Committee (TSC) are rolling out a new training programme in Vietnam to help make the port community of Cai Mep safer. More than 45 truck drivers and other CMIT employees, along with executives from the APM Terminals operated at Cai Mep International Terminal (CMIT), joined 500 students, teachers, and parents at Tran Quoc Toan Primary School to address road safety issues in their community. The truck drivers work for CMIT, a subsidiary of Netherlands-based port operator APM Terminals. The event is the inaugural event of Lifting Safety, a proactive road safety programme developed by AIP Foundation and APM Terminals.

The Lifting Safety programme aims to identify and mitigate road safety risks in the community near the APM Terminals-operated port through a combination of targeted education, awareness, and community engagement activities. Both the national- and provincial-level traffic safety committees have worked closely with APM Terminals and AIP Foundation on developing and implementing the programme.

“We wanted to use our expertise and connect with the people of the community to make their lives safer. Our research data revealed just how hazardous the local roads in the community are. Partnering with AIP Foundation and local government authorities enabled us to reach a broader audience,” stated Kevin Furniss, vice president of APM Terminals Health, Safety and Environment Department.

“We are enthusiastic about the prospect of implementing this evidence-based programme at other port locations to help us build meaningful safety with the communities we operate in. AIP Foundation is clearly a specialist in road safety and our longstanding partnership dates back to 2008,” he added.

According to Vu Quy Phi, deputy director of the Traffic Police Department and deputy chief secretariat of National Traffic Safety Committee, the Lifting Safety programmes care for people and will prompt behavior changes in a better direction.

"Proactive participation from the local government and authorities in Tan Thanh District is the prerequisite for the initiative’s success. We also hope to expand this model beyond this partnership by replicating it at other ports in the Ba Ria-Vung Tau province,” said Phi.

“Acting as a road safety ambassador gives me the opportunity to share my experiences with some of the youngest and most vulnerable road users in the communities I work in,” truck driver Le Quang Thien said. “I also hope this will help me better understand how the students and teachers at these schools feel on the roads.”

Over the next year, Lifting Safety will implement truck driver training, a mass media awareness campaign, and community-based activities in and around the CMIT port.